Price conducts meetings, accepts input in city plan review process

In Price, 100 North is busier than Main Street, in some ways making downtown an orphan of the other street. When the by-pass road was constructed, traffic was routed past town, but then the overpass for the 100 North exit was constructed which takes traffic entirely past the oldest part of Main. A new effort to route traffic downtown has been underway with some extra signage and flags denoting the CEU Prehistoric Musuem. Changes have also been made at the west entrance to Main from Carbonville Road to try and get people to flow past Heritage Park, Kokapelli and onto Main. Traffic patterns were one of the many items of discussion during a review of Price's master plan which took place a couple of weeks ago.

On Sept. 26, Price officials conducted two meetings open to the public to review the city's general plan and allow citizens to offer input on how to update it.

The public meetings were sparsely attended.

Many of the people present were officials, while private citizens were interspersed around the table.

The city's general plan was adopted in April 2004 by the members of the Price council.

Price officials indicated that the plan was developed to give city leaders a "road map" for growth, development, recreation and infrastructure into the middle of the current century.

The 2004 road map for the city was developed by the JUB Planning Group based on input and surveys from citizens.

The update in September represented an ongoing process that Price leaders felt the city must undergo to keep the plan current with the times and with the needs of the local residents.

Last month, many issues raised before concerning the community were brought up again and new matters also surfaced at the meetings as well.

One of the major issues involved quality of life and attracting people to the area.

When families plan to move to Price, the men are usually thrilled because of the recreation possibilities, pointed out a Carbon County native who recently returned to the local community with her husband and family. But the women tend to look around and wonder what there is to do in the county.

Attracting younger families to the local area should be of prime importance to the city, continued the Price native. Achieving the goal may include such things as a library expansion or a recreation center development project.

Price community manager Nick Tatton stated that, as with all things, people need to have realistic expectations about what can be done.

"Much of it has to do with the capacity of the community and the needs we have," said Tatton.

Enhancing the community's image with outsiders was also a topic of discussion.

Bringing people to Price and the Carbon County area to spend time and add economic stimulus to the community was a second primary issue raised at the public meetings.

Some attendees at the meetings felt that the area already has many excellent attributes and the good things need to be marketed better.

Getting traffic to exit off U.S. Highway 6 and travel into town was one of the issues that came up during the meetings.

"It is important that significant traffic patterns that exist now be broken so more people come into our town," pointed out Price Mayor Joe Piccolo. "But we also need to decide where we want that traffic pattern to be."

The mayor's comments led to discussions concerning the local economy, jobs and property values.

Piccolo said one of the main things that needs to be done in the town is to expand first line employment opportunities for young people so they will stay in Carbon County.

One of the issues that arose was real estate and the number of older homes that are on the market right now.

Based on the 2000 census Price has about 2,100 owner occupied housing units with 80 percent of those being single family homes. Almost 60 percent of those homes were built before 1970. With new houses going up in parts of the city and the county, some of the older homes are being left empty as families move to the more modern dwellings.

A question about the general plan arose concerning the income sources that will be available in the future to fund the city. There were also some questions about how realistic the goals are, based on the monetary realities of the area.

Infrastructure was also a point of discussion. City officials say they are constantly reviewing the situation with streets, water/sewer systems and electrical distribution. But as with many cities, as the outlying areas grow new sections to those systems are added there, while in the older neighborhoods, system continue to age. However, city officials say that the towns roads and systems are constantly under review and as residents know, construction projects often occur during the summer to repair and replace sections of road or pipe that need it.

The suggestions and input gathered at the meetings will be examined more closely by the city and their consultants to see what kinds of changes may need to be made to the plan based on that information.